Chiefs side to face Gloucester

The waiting is over and rugby returns to Sandy Park today (Saturday) as Exeter Chiefs prepare to kick-off their 2015-16 campaign with the visit of Gloucester in the inaugural match of the West Country Challenge Cup (4:30pm).

After two months of gruelling work in the gym and the training field, Rob Baxter's side will at last be able to put into practice new ideas and fresh plans in the first of four warm-up fixtures for the Devon club.

With the forthcoming Rugby World Cup not only ensuring a later start to the domestic year, but also robbing clubs of key personnel for the opening weeks of the season, Baxter will be keen to see how those who remain fare during these opening exchanges.

Certainly the new-look tournament - which will see the Chiefs face Gloucester and Bath, both home and away over the next month - will allow Baxter prime opportunity to not only run the rule over many of his tried and trusted, but also those new faces that have been included during the close season.

“The players and the squad need to start establishing a bit of a hierarchy because it happens every season and it needs to start happening this weekend against Gloucester,” explained the head coach, who is already setting his sights on the club's Aviva Premiership opener away to Bath on Saturday, October 17.

“You start to establish a pecking order amongst your high-level performers and that starts on Saturday. Some guys this weekend are going to be looking to go out and do themselves a lot of favours, and that is very important for the season ahead.

“How they perform as an individual in a team environment will be important, and then we will start homing in on a best 23 over the next few weeks. That will be based on those individual performances on Saturday.”

Indeed, Baxter has already indicated that tomorrow's tussle will allow him the chance to give the majority of his squad at least 40 minutes of competitive action. The experienced Gareth Steenson will lead a starting XV in the opening half with Luke Cowan-Dickie skippering the side that takes to the field in the second period.

As well as players looking to establish themselves, Baxter will also use the game to assess a number of other factors, ranging from how the new signings perform, to how well the players have taken on board new systems and techniques learned over pre-season.

The match also offers a chance for the players to return to the rough-and-tumble of a game environment as they prepare their bodies for a non-stop campaign once the action starts.

“They are ready to go. The have had their breaks and time away and they want to play proper rugby again now. As much as they might enjoy training, they are not professional players to train but to play rugby,” added Baxter. “Making them feel like rugby players again is important. It has been a little while and traditionally they would be looking to start the Premiership season now.

“As coaches, we want to see things that we have been asking them to work on out there in a genuine game and a genuine environment. We want to see feedback from that and we want to see if they work and if we are taking them on board as a team. Match fitness and full-on contact is going to be very important for the players.”

Chiefs XV (First Half): Phil Dollman; Olly Woodburn, Pete Laverick, Sam Hill, James Short; Gareth Steenson (capt), Haydn Thomas; Alec Hepburn, Shaun Malton, Moray Low; Mitch Lees, Don Armand; Dave Ewers, Julian Salvi, Thomas Waldrom.

Chiefs XV (Second Half): Byron McGuigan; Ian Whitten, Max Bodilly, Adam Hughes, Matt Jess; Will Hooley, Dave Lewis; Brett Sturgess, Luke Cowan-Dickie (capt), Harry Williams; Ollie Atkins, Damian Welch; Tom Johnson, Ben White, Sam Skinner.

Replacements: Jack Innard, Carl Rimmer, Alex Brown, Jonny Hill, Kai Horstmann, Jack Maunder, Joe Simmonds, Harry Strong.